skp and I just saw Ray Manzarek perform in Sebastopol. It was a small crowd (the place only holds 140 people). He discussed the Doors, drugs, life, religion, politics, oneness and being. He played the keyboard. As a big fan of meta data, it was fascinating to hear him deconstruct Doors songs. He would play a piece, then describe how it was just a variation of a bit from a Coltrane song. Then he'd play that. At one point he said, "I shouldn't be telling you all of this." ;)

I'm back to an XML backend for this site. (managed by Blogger, of course.) Things will be in flux for a while. Flux is good! If you're interested in the Blogger template I'm using to generate the XML, you can take a look. If you're interested in that, you might also be interested in the resulting live XML file. And when I'm happy with this page, I'll probably release the ASP code I'm using to parse it. (scripting is fun.)

This certainly was a long day. I found myself in Silicon Valley at a cool company meeting even cooler people. (ev and matt were there as well. and we all know how cool they are.) I guess a company is only as cool as the people working there. Oh, did I mention they were cool? ;) We also made a quick stop at Exodus. ahem. I got my hand scanned, man.

In the late 60's the Haight in San Francisco was a place where people were rejecting one culture and building a new one. Today it is a place to buy shoes. There are a surprising number of shoe stores on Haight street. I visited all of them this weekend in search of cool shoes. And I was unsuccessful. Why? I have a theory. I'm not a very fashion conscious guy. I predominantly wear jeans and t-shirts and hiking shoes. And this is what I was wearing as I walked into the store. I found a pair of smart looking campers on the shelf. I walked over to the salesperson: an energetic young woman in camouflage, dreadlocks, pierced and pierced again. Her eyes were sparklers burning tracers into the air as she moved her head, darting. I walked up to her with the shoe in question. She sized me up in one glance, and her expression said, these shoes are too cool for you. She went into the back for quite a while. She was making it look good. She returned, glancing from side to side, and said, "um, we don't have those in a size twelve. sorry. you might try next door." I smiled and thanked her. I knew she had just played her *real* role as fashion monitor; matching up shoes with their proper owner. And I didn't fit the profile. A scene like this was repeated in every store. It was somehow satisfying not to spend money there. And the lyrics of the Grateful Dead came to mind as I walked past the Ben and Jerry's on Haight and Ashbury, I don't know, now, I just don't know, if I'm goin' back again.

Yesterday was a day of travel. And a journey to the center of the Internet. I left my little house in Sonoma County at 9. arrived in San Francisco around 10:30 and parked in the "remote lot" on the embarcadero. hopped on the MUNI. arrived at the office. viewed the chaos and tired faces. wires and servers. linux disks and scribbles on notebook paper were scattered. a few folks hadn't slept much. the risidual aura of cursing and frustration hung heavy in the air. "get your car." so I hopped back on the MUNI. drove to the office. we loaded the car down with servers. big servers. bad servers. kick ass servers. then it was onto 101 headed for the South Bay. and there was much cement. as we approached exodus, we could feel the bandwidth humming in the streets. it was palpable. the security at exodus is intricate. I'd tell you more, but then I would be prosecuted. we set up the servers. crossed our fingers. flipped the switch. we added our small contribution to the hum. the great big silicon valley ohm of machines. we had a little dinner at denny's. the frustration of the past few days was gone. replaced with relief and excitement and big picture menus. then back in the car. and a stop at the spectacle that is fry's. drove back onto 101 in time for rush hour. we joked to pass the time. we listened to Louis Prima and the Posies. arriving in San Francisco, I dropped them off at church st. then back to the office. then home toward Sonoma County. and sometimes. on a clear night. I can hear the Internet humming.

ev says: "...And the web servers will be monitored 24x7 for any disruption of service, the first sign of which, a 200 decibal alarm, residing in pb's pocket, will go off -- day or night." say what now?